Somewhere Only We Know
by YewDust20
Summary: 'So tell me when you're gonna let me in, I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin' The story of Lily Luna Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts, filled with new romance, intense hatred, broken trust, heated angst and emotional drama. Also features the whole Potter-Weasley Clan, of course! Not a song fic!
1. Chapter 1

"Oh, for god's sake Al! I can't do it and that's that!" cried Lily, throwing down her Standard book of Spells Grade 5 on the table in front of her, sinking back into an armchair crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at her brother, while listening to the calming crackling of the fire. Charms was normally not a problem for Lily, as Professor Flitwick seemed to know only too well. He loved to challenge Lily, since the majority of the time she accomplished the task without so much as a dew drop of sweat; today however she was not so impressive. As much as Lily tried, she simply couldn't grasp any aspect of concentration, which made her very irritable. This was especially when she couldn't conduct the spell properly, which was responded to with giggles and smirking. Then Professor Flitwick would applaud and praise Amanda Vain, who would smile modestly at the class until she caught eye contact with Lily, and her sweet blush would turn into an ugly smirk. It was for this reason that Lily now had detention for two Saturday's with Professor Flitwick, for casting a Bat-Bogey Hex on Amanda, a specialty she had learned from her mother.

Albus groaned loudly in frustration. Lily may be ambitious, but it only matched with her stubbornness when it came to her cousins trying to teach her a new spell. She simply paid no attention to Al's attempts, knowing that he was quite the pushover. James didn't even bother, and when he was asked he would block his ears and shout out that he can't hear anything, in a very immature manner. Lysander and Molly had insisted that they were busy with 'challenging homework' that evening, though it was obvious what they were really getting up to. Rose could win her over most times, but it was Franky who effortlessly earned Lily's undivided attention. This particular evening, James was off with Fred and the Marauder's Map, as it was his fortnight, most likely trying to catch Lorcan Scamander snogging Molly Weasley, or even better, trying to catch Rose and Scorpius Malfoy at it _again._ Louis was most likely struggling with his herbology homework, as he normally had either Lysander or Molly to help him finish it. Lysander was taking Lucy out on their first date into the Hogsmead night shift, Hugo was probably tuning his guitar in his dorm, while Roxanne would probably be out in the grounds shagging some boy behind a tree. Therese was taking her brand new firebolt for a practice flight and family friend Alicia had just entered through the portrait hole. Franky however, was never anywhere to be seen. He seemed to have a talent of just melting into the background and disappearing, then evaporating back into the strangest places in Hogwarts. It annoyed Lily how she never seemed to be able to find him, yet he was always able to find her.

"Hello you two," said Alicia in a resigned voice as she sank down into one of the armchairs beside the fire opposite Lily. She exhaled loudly, muttering something about how she 'hates being Head Girl sometimes', before she noticed her cousins forlorn expressions, and Al's wand in his hand.

"What are you two up to?" She asked casually, looking from one to the other.

"Attempting," began Al as he sank on the floor, "and failing at teaching Lily how to cast a banishing charm." Alicia raised her eyebrows, frowning slightly, at Lily, as if she hadn't heard quite right. After all, Lily was very intelligent for her age, and never really required help for anything. Lily simply responded to Alicia's questioning look with a slightly uncomfortable shrug, careful not to meet her gaze.

"Oh, come on Al! Surely you can teach her a simple banishing charm? And Lily, to be honest I'm surprised; you always manage to grasp the concept of spell casting without so much as a second thought!" Alicia said with disbelief.

"You would have thought so wouldn't you?" interjected Al, as Lily scowled at him. "She is fucking hard work you know! She doesn't listen to anything I say" he also added in exasperation.

"It's all right to be scared of me, Al; it's quite understandable" Lily retorted with an undertone of acidity, and flashing her deceptively sweet smirk. Alicia snorted in spite of herself, and Al inhaled with an air of forced calm; Lily had become adept at inflaming both Al's and James' chagrin with unfortunate precision over the years, having had to survive amongst her majorly masculine family.

"Alright, fine" he said at last after exhaling and turning swiftly to face Alicia, "lets see you try, being the infamous head girl and all that."

"Al, can't you see I'm bus-"

"Unless you're scared?"

Alicia raised her eyebrows as a grin played in the corners of her mouth. She stood up. "Alright then! C'mon Lily, time to dominate this pointless charm," she declared whipping out her wand from beneath her robes. Lily groaned, getting up from the arm chair slowly, picking up her own wand and proceeded to stand in front of Alicia, Al sitting on the sidelines, grinning with anticipation. He was roaring with mirthless laughter about half an hour later, when Lily had slunk back into her arm chair and Alicia had turned a slight purple shade. If anything angered Alicia Longbottom more than anything, it was failing, especially a challenge. "Lily, its such a simple spell! C'mon lets try again," she said trying to keep calm, but her voice was evident with impatience and embarrassment.

"No!" spat Lily, "honestly, just leave it! I'll try again in the morning when I'm _not_ pissed off. And I thought _you _were busy!" she added tartly. Alicia blinked and shook her head in astonishment, obviously ashamed of how she was unable to achieve something so easy.

Albus however found the whole situation priceless, and he and Alicia had just erupted into fresh bickering, when James and Fred plunged through the portrait hole and on to the floor. "What the fuck?" cried Al, as he and Alicia rushed over and stood over the two, who were both rolling about on the floor with laughter.

"Oh-hey Al-" James gasped between sniggers.

"What's occurring?" Fred pitched in, he too failing to stifle his giggles, as the pair of them got to their feet.

"Spying on Lorcan and Molly were we?" asked Al smiling, which was confirmed by James' and Fred's nervous guffaws. "We just lost Lorcan as we ran past Filch's office," explained James, pointing over his shoulder. "Yeah," panted Fred, "we would've felt bad for him if he hadn't drenched us with water." Lily only just noticed that two of them were soaked to the bone. Alicia shook her head, yet smiling, as she cast a drying charm on the two of them. James winked at her as he grabbed her waist and pulled her into a kiss. "Thanks babe," he murmured, as Fred and Al groaned loudly, Lily rolling her eyes and turning back to gazing into the fire. "Oh, piss off you two," James smirked, releasing Alicia and pecking a kiss on her temple, before imitating boxing with Fred.

At that point, Rose entered through the portrait hole in a more respectable fashion, arm in arm with Scorpius Malfoy, her boyfriend. They had been a couple for almost a year now, and the family was surprisingly fond of him, despite the icy tension towards the beginning. As long as the family rarely had to come into contact with the Malfoy's themselves, Scorpius was always welcome. Lily herself was quite fond of Scorpius, as he had hexed a couple of third years for bullying her in her first year at Hogwarts. Of course he received a detention from Headmistress McGonagall, but he had been valiant nonetheless. Everyone was expecting him or Al to become Head Boy next year, as he was constantly reminded of by current Head Boy, surprisingly, James; to say the least, it had been highly astonishing when James had waddled slowly into the kitchen, and had held up his shiny new badge to the room at large, as if seeking confirmation, with a dumbfounded expression upon his face. It came as an even greater shock to everyone when he managed to woo Alicia only two years before in the summer, when Lily and Hugo had found them very near to shagging in the attic bedroom during The Potter's and Weasley's wedding anniversary. Alicia was responsible, mature and very 'shaggable', as it was said throughout the boys of Hogwarts, and she had always seemed miles out of James' league of maturity.

Scorpius leaned in to Rose, whispering something in her ear which made her grin. Lily smiled at the sight of them. She had always adored Rose, especially her and Scorpius as a couple, despite being somewhat envious. She always saw them together around school, and if they weren't snogging they were flirting or otherwise playfully teasing and winding each other up. The same could also be said for the rest of her siblings and cousins; After James and Alicia two summers ago, Albus was found snogging Sasha Woolcott in the thick snow; James had found Teddy Lupin snogging Victoire Weasley on Platform 9 3/4 almost 6 years ago and they were due to be married next summer, an event Lily most looked forward to; Lorcan was seen snogging Molly in the library three months ago and now they could hardly keep their hands off each other; Lysander asked Lucy out three days ago, after Lucy had unexpectedly kissed him; Fabian and Dominique started going out at the start of the school year; Fred overwhelmed Valerie Wood by snogging her when they won the house cup last year, since he was never very good with words, and Hugo was found doing a little more than snogging with Therese Gregoire in his bedroom by Louis and Lily last Halloween, though this had been kept tight under wraps as Therese was currently with someone else. She admitted that she wasn't the only single one in the family, as Louis preferred to flirt and tease girls rather than actually date them and Roxanne was more of a school slut.

No one ever really knew with Franky. Franklin Longbottom was known to be single among the adults, however among the younger generation, his single status was an ambiguous matter; Even though he was unbelievably shy throughout his first year at Hogwarts, he eventually managed to find his stride throughout his second year and was now undoubtably in his prime as being the Hogwarts Womaniser, having had his first snog with Shelley Moore in his second year, whom he also successfully seduced and shagged on the last day before summer in his fourth year. Before this, he'd simply effortlessly snog girls senseless. His various girlfriends even included family friend Valerie Wood, and Lily's very own cousins Dominique and Rose Weasley, as well as the odd fling with Roxanne. She had asked Rose why they broke up, and she simply stated that she knew, with Franky being a bit of a player, that she was undoubtedly going to get her heart broken. But she agreed by all means that Franky was a good-hearted person, but not very professional when it came to falling in love, as many broken hearts had soon found out.

Rose sat on the rug at Lily's feet, with Scorpius leaning beside her. "Hey Lily," she smiled, winking. Lily smiled back lazily, soon having to look away however when Rose and Scorpius began to snog, but were momentarily interrupted by James. "Malfoy!" he barked, his tone licked with amusement, "what kind of boy do you call yourself? Going round, snogging my cousin?" he jeered, which was greeted with laughter.

"The Head Boy that shows love and affection to his fellows peers," Scorpius replied smugly, which was also greeted by laughter, jeers, and another quick kiss from Rose. "Eurgh, you manwhore!," retorted James; he and Scorpius were actually good friends, thanks to Professor McGonagall's hard work since Albus Dumbledore's demise to truly unite the four houses. Half of Slytherin these days were Muggle-Born, and their families never really seemed to mind which houses they were sorted into.

"Two can play at that game!" Al roared, laughing and getting to his feet on his armchair. His girlfriend Sasha Woolcott, a very pretty and friendly fellow Gryffindor in the sixth year, had just appeared at the bottom of the staircase from the girl's dormitories. She was reading what looked like her copy of her Potions textbook. Al leapt over the armchairs towards her, and Sasha had literally looked up and opened her mouth to ask a question, when it was engulfed by Al snogging her full on the mouth. Everyone jeered and wolf-whistled, as Sasha dropped her textbook, tilted her head, and wrapped her arms around Al's neck. When Sasha pulled away, she asked, rather dumbstruck, 'Well, what was that for?'

Before Al could answer with something sweet or romantic, Scorpius bellowed, 'We're trying to see whether me or Al is the better candidate at seducing their girlfriend! Very important trait in a Head Boy you see.' Everyone, along with Sasha, laughed at the indignant pout on Albus' face.

"Honestly, Syltherin's!" James shouted, "In the Griffindor Common Room! Can you Imagine?" Everyone else laughed, for by now James was surely pissed on some Firewhisky that he had pocketed from Hogsmead. His gaze now fell on Lily, whom was still giggling, and his eyes seem to pop as he roared, "and Hufflepuff's! What a fucking disgrace!," laughing stupidly as Fred caught him in a headlock and prised the Firewhiskey out of his fingers, then landing lazily beside Alicia in one of the armchairs. "I'm not in Hufflepuff, you moron!" Lily shouted back at him, shaking her head.

"What are you doing down here anyway Lily? Isn't it your beddy time?" he taunted, grinning stupidly and hiccuping slightly. Lily was just about to retort, when the portrait hole opened. A gaggle of Gryffindors entered, all laughing and chatting. In their midst was Amanda Vain, a tall, slim girl with olive skin, and long, dark, bushy black hair. She was flirting, arm in arm, with a tall, muscular boy called Leon Sebastian. Lily's ex-boyfriend. The Potter-Weasley party suddenly became very quiet, with the slight exception of James and Fred who were now giggling over a game of rock-paper-scissors, and looked over coldly at the group. Amanda's murky brown eyes caught Lily's bright green ones, as she turned with a smirk to the rest of her followers and whispered something, before they all burst out laughing and stalked off. Lily just caught Leon's eye for an awkward second before he turned away and out of sight, Amanda clinging on to his arm like a lost puppy.

"What a bitch," murmured Rose with disgust. The silence that followed only confirmed her statement. Al watched them exit with a somewhat predatory gaze, Sasha clutching his shoulder with some restraint. Lily could feel the colour draining from her face, settling as a heated flush on her poignant cheeks, her fingers dangerously close to her wand. But she was just able to contain the desire to strike as she suddenly got up, bent down to pick up her bag (While curtly swiping away a tear) and swinging it over her shoulder.

"Where are you going?" demanded Rose, as her fingers hastened to entwine around Lily's wrist. Lily couldn't quite bring herself to look at her. She knew Rose meant well, but Lily had a preference of isolating her emotions for herself. "A walk," she replied curtly, attempting to sound nonchalant, "around the grounds. I won't be long." She was just about to leave, her wrist sliding out of Rose's grasp, when yet another hand clasped itself around her wrist. Lily looked down upon James' drunken state, yet she knew his words were sincere: "Don't let that whore get you down. We both know you're better than that." And he winked before falling asleep on Alicia's lap. Lily smiled, shaking her head, and with that she turned her back on her family, and walked briskly out of the portrait hole.


	2. Chapter 2

She didn't really know where she was going, considering the fact that the Gryffindor common room was in the opposite direction. Lily simply knew that she had to get away; from the stupidly sincere looks of her family, the gossipers mutters situated around her, Amanda's painfully forced cackle and Leon's pained silence in the midst of it all. Lily clenched her fists at the thought of him, the memory of his sober expression. She's the one who should be upset, not Leon. After all, wasn't it he who cheated on her? But that's not Lily's style; she's the last person in the world who would want her emotions to be realised by anyone - she liked her mysterious, tough girl image. Even Rose had never seen her cry. Once, Franky had seen her cry; the first time she played Quidditch when she was six, and was hit by a bludger square in the face and knocked off her broom onto the ground. She got up with a smile and a shrug and tried to laugh the whole thing off, but Franky knew she was doing it halfheartedly. He then found her sobbing behind a tree in pain, but he promised not to tell anyone. And Franky has always kept his promises. Lily always thought of crying as the biggest weakness there ever was. _If only Leon was so loyal_, Lily thought bitterly. Her speed walk had slowed to her normal pace, now she was a safe distance from everyone. She was headed towards the grounds. Maybe an evening flight was what she really needed, or to sit beside the lake and pour out her heart to the Giant Squid.

She hated how weak and lonely the whole situation was making her feel. After all Lily Potter had always had loads of boyfriends, but she was the heartbreaker - she had never been heartbroken. She clenched her fist around her wand, and roughly wiped back another tear from her cheek. Which was an achievement for a tear, since they normally never made it past the eye lid. And of all the people, of all the stuck up bitches in the castle, it had to be _Amanda_ he had been fucking around with, didn't it? She contemplated heatedly, the memory of her walking into the potions room at the wrong time two days ago fresh in her mind. The memory of Amanda's wicked smile fresher still. . .

A hand suddenly clasped itself around Lily's wrist, bringing her to an abrupt stop, almost making her trip. Not looking round, she tried tugging her wrist away, but the hand fastened its grip. Feeling really pissed off now, Lily shouted, "fuck _off_ Franky, you are so fucking annoying!"

The hand suddenly swung Lily round, and she stumbled into the owner's arms. She looked up begrudgingly into his silvery green eyes, as he smiled back at her. "Or hello, as people used to say." Lily shoved Franky into the pillar, as he mocked a grunt, which then turned into a weak laugh. Franky brought himself up to his full height again, towering over Lily, while ruffling his soft, black hair. People often did a double take when they realised he was a Longbottom.

'What do you want?' asked Lily flatly, not looking at him.

'Well, I've been looking for you everywhere and I just went up to the Griffindor common room-'

'What do you want?' Lily repeated again more forcefully, staring Franky full in the face now. When Franky didn't respond, instead stared at her with a curious expression, she turned to carry on walking. Finally, Franky called after her, 'can I come? Only I'm a bit lonely.' Lily couldn't help but grin to herself, as this was as much fact as the crumple-horned snorkack; you rarely found Franky without his usual flock of simpering Slytherins, all of whom are dying to please. Either that, or he was always with Al and Scorpius. 'If you must,' she yelled back after a moment or two.

The two walked side by side into the grounds. The moon was already shining high above the castle, as the many lights of Hogwarts windows flickered on the lake's many ripples. Franky had been doing most of the talking, while Lily remained oddly silent, absorbed in her own thoughts.

'You going to tell me what's wrong then?' Franky asked at last, coming to the conclusion that his attempts at casual conversation were clearly proving fruitless. Lily turned and stared at him for a moment, as if sizing him up. How much should she let him in? Would she just end up embarrassing herself? Sure, they were perhaps closer than most, but would it really be wise to let her guard down? But as she delved into his deep, green eyes, Lily also wondered whether caution should be last thing to take into consideration. It's _Franky_ for goodness sake. Before Lily could stop herself however, her throat began to feel tight and constricted, while her eyes began to burn. They had come to the edge of the lake now, and they could hear the soft rippling of the calm waters. Lily hadn't been here in days; the last time she was here was last Saturday, and she had been with Leon, strolling hand in hand, laughing and nuzzling, kissing on the lakes edge...

Franky opened his mouth to speak yet again, but Lily beat him to it. 'I hate her!' she spat suddenly, her voice echoing around the silent grounds, 'and I hate _him_!'

It would have been fool hardy for Franky not to know who she was talking about. He stuffed his hands in his pockets but did not stem the flow of Lily's outbursts. 'He's being so - so _stupid!_ so pathetic! Why the fuck is he upset? Why is he moping miserably around the castle? That should be me, _me_!' Lily's vision was obscured by tears now, as they cascaded down her flushed cheeks. Franky remained silent, watching her, as Lily ploughed on whether he was listening or not. 'He cheated on me! I don't understand - if it upsets him so much he should have had held on to his trousers, and he hasn't even tried to apologise, not that it would have made any difference,' she added as a resentful afterthought.

'He humiliated me, Franky,' she sobbed, turning towards him, 'and I've had to act like I'm okay, it doesn't matter, I don't care, the usual bullshit.' Lily was hiccoughing now, while Franky still remained silent, watching her with a mixture of pity and apprehension. He didn't know whether he should say something, or was it best that she let it all out? He then dug deeper into his pockets, and then drew out two pocket sized bottles of firewhiskey, one tinted with cherry, and a slab of honeydukes chocolate. As Lily wiped away her tears, she spotted the firewhiskey and chocolate in Franky's hands and gave a watery chuckle, looking up at him appreciatively. 'Go on then, just one drop.' Franky grinned and winked, as Lily prised the pink bottle of firewhiskey out of his hand, and Franky then guided her to sit beside the lake under the large Oak tree, with the air of a waiter guiding a customer to their seat. Uncorking her bottle of firewhiskey, Lily kicked off her shoes and dangled her feet in the cool, clean water. She knocked back a large swig of whiskey, as Franky sat beside her on the lake's edge, opening his own bottle.

'I've heard what people have been saying you know.' It was as if she was accusing Franky, and even he seemed to swallow uncomfortably as Lily knocked back more firewhiskey. 'Staring, pointing, smirking; now I know how dad used to feel- they all deserve a good punch! They made a fool out of me, and holding my head up reduces the damage by _so_ little. And the fact that it's her, makes it ten times worse!' Lily spluttered, having another swig of whiskey, 'because of that - that - _slut_! That foul little whore! Girls are the worst, always giggling wherever I go.' As Lily knocked her head back for her fourth swig, Franky snatched the bottle out of her trembling hands and then thrust the chocolate into them. 'Eat it,' he said. Lily scowled at him, and Franky fought the urge to laugh; Lily had the air of a five year old with a temper tantrum. 'You'll feel better,' he urged gently, yet he was grinning in spite of himself. Lily snorted. 'Rose, Rox, Molly and Lucy have already tried that, and what good has it done?'

'Well, did you eat it?'

Lily scowled at him again, as Franky smiled triumphantly and drank some of his firewhiskey. Lily grudgingly broke off some of the chocolate and ate it, as she stared out at the lake. The moonlight was dancing on the waves as the wind blew gently through her long, red hair. Listening carefully, the two of them could hear the beautiful, peaceful singing of the merpeople below. Lily could hear her father now, telling her that merpeople could only sing underwater. She did not want to leave this mellow place, to return to a castle that was completely otherwise.

'You don't have to keep it all bottled up all the time, you know.' Lily turned to look at Franky. He was lying back on his forearms, also staring out into the dark horizon. She sighed before saying, 'I'm not _this_ girl though, Franky. I don't want to be this girl. What's the point in crying? It only makes matters worse after all.'

'The point is to prevent _this_ from happening. Random outbursts. What if you had done this in front of others, or in a classroom? That would be even more humiliating. You're lucky it only just came out now,' said Franky, looking up at her. He turned his body slowly towards her, and raised his hand to her cheek; Lily gasped ever so slightly at his touch, as he tenderly swept away a lone tear. Lily opened her mouth to retort, then slowly closed it again. 'Well, yeah, I suppose you're right about that,' she admitted quietly, 'but I don't want people to know - I don't want them to think - it hurts Franky,' she moaned finally. Her face was closer to his now.

'I never imagined that he would do this to me. I thought - I thought -' her voice was constricted again. 'I thought we had something special.' Franky scoffed and shook his head, looking almost incredulously at an outraged Lily. 'You don't really want something special with _Leon_, do you? Look at him Lily, he's a brute! Everyone else can see it and we're still trying to figure out why _you_ can't. Lily, you're a bright girl,' added Franky gently, as Lily flushed an angry red, 'which is why I'm not going to be sympathetic and also because you probably already knew this. It's disappointing really, because you've always been above and better than that, yet you clung on. Why?'

Lily looked as if she might punch, or worse still, hex him. Tears had streaked her red cheeks again, as she turned back towards the lake and ate more chocolate. After what could have been hours, Lily finally replied 'god only knows.' Then she gave a watery laugh. Franky casually raised an eyebrow at her as she slowly fell backwards onto the cool grass, and stared up at the glistening stars above. It was surprisingly warm for a night in March. 'I guess,' Lily said gently after a few minutes, 'it's not really the fact that it's him, but more of the fact that it's _her_. If it was anyone else I probably would've brushed it off like you said because they would have both been abysmal. But,' and her voice trembled slightly, 'we both know that Amanda is much better than me, right?' She almost sounded like a child trying to seek reassurance. Franky choked a little on his firewhiskey. 'No!' he spluttered, 'you mental? she's a complete psycho? And you've never actually cheated on anyone have you?' Franky's eyes bore into Lily's. 'Have you?'

'No, of course I haven't! What exactly do you take me for Franklin?' asked Lily, sounding slightly hurt.

'Well you did pause, so I thought-'

'Don't injure yourself, Franky.' The two looked at each other, then, faces softening, they burst into laughter. 'We should really do this more often,' sighed Franky, he too now lying back and looking at the stars. Lily lay next to him, close, so that Franky's enticing aftershave filled her nostrils. She shook her head. 'Can't can I? It's O.W.L's this year, remember?'

'Ah, yes.' Franky was a year above Lily in his sixth year. They had already been studying together before Christmas, although Lily never really seemed to actually need the extra help, however the buzz of concentration seemed to have died down shortly afterwards. 'Yeah, like you need to revise,' scoffed Franky, swigging some more firewhiskey.

'Well, you never know, I could still really fuck up if I don't study.'

'You'll be fine.' He wrapped his arm around Lily and squeezed. It felt so comfortable lying next to him, enmeshed in his warmth, her nose rubbing into his jumper. Lily suddenly felt Franky's hand on her back drifting slowly down her spine, drawing close to the rim of her jeans. As he stroked her skin, their legs entwining and their bodies drawing ever closer, Lily felt like she wanted nothing more than to wrap her arms around his neck and wrap herself around him, so that there was no space between them, so that they would melt into each other, hardly daring to breath. . .

The two of them jumped. Lily sat bolt upright while Franky jumped to his feet, his hand in his pocket, holding the handle of his wand. A silhouette had emerged from the castle; stout, hobbling, slightly hunchbacked, a lanturn swaying from side to side in one hand, and the additional black outline of a cat hurrying along beside it. 'Filch,' muttered Franky, with a hint of regret in his voice. Grabbing Lily's hand and pulling her to her feet, the two waited a few seconds before pelting back up the slope and into the safety of the castle. She couldn't explain it, but for some reason Lily felt like a hot spark inside her had flared, flickered and burnt out.


	3. Chapter 3

'EXPELLIARMUS!' roared Professor Oddity, waving her arms wildly. 'Can you believe it? A simple disarming charm was able to vanquish he who must not be named, oh yes!' she added gravely, nodding at her bored stricken class, her eyes bulging. 'Harry Potter proves,' she rambled on, 'that the disarming charm is of the utmost importance, so I would be wise to remind you!-' she paused for dramatic effect, pointing a long nailed finger at the class as more strands of hair sprang up from her bun, '-not to be so cocky when Professor Flitwick wishes to practice it! Hmph! O.W.L's and suddenly you all think you're too good for such a trivial charm, don't you? Although. .'

She clasped her hands together and slowly rotated on the spot at the front of the class, peering at every student closely, until her grey eyes crinkled in a smile as she added, 'I'm sure you'll agree, that not only is Mr. Potter absolutely incredible, but so is that charm! Right, Miss. Potter?'

Lily scowled at Professor Oddity as she stared at her expectantly along with the rest of the class, with the exception of some who were either sneering or rolling their eyes. It was a typical Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson for any member of the Potter family; each lesson, Professor Oddity would find some reason, without fail, to single out one of the members and openly praise their father of being master of the universe. Lily sighed dully, and, as per routine, said, 'yes Professor Oddity,' with a deflated tone. She had given up disagreeing a long time ago. Professor Oddity nodded, beaming at her, as tears formed in the corners of her crinkled eyes. She always seemed to favor them above all others, which was sometimes an advantage due to the fact that her strictness only matched her ludicrousy. James and Fred particularly took advantage of Oddity's preferential treatment, as they somehow both gained O's in their O.W.L, despite doing less than half the necessary class and homework. Lily had snorted when James bragged that it was simply all down to 'natural talent.' Even though it probably was.

Lily was inconveniently sat directly in the centre of the room, so Professor Oddity could pounce upon her with ease, much to Lily's discomfort. Her friends were located around her, in a sort of triangle, each with a clear spectator's view of these uncomfortable yet humorous moments; Rox, or Roxanne, sat right in front of Lily and was able to swing back her long mane of brunette hair, sporting a broad grin on her peachy features; Lucy, sitting on the top right, often giggled into her hand or smiled at Lily while biting her lip; Molly, sitting on the behind Lily, pouted impatiently, as she thought these interruptions were a complete waste of time; Hugo, sitting on the top left, always had his head on the table and simply rolled his eyes, as he too grew bored of the constant appraisal that none of them wanted nor deserved. Well, at least that's how Hugo and Lily felt anyway - James and Fred always took it in their stride.

'Galleon, now Lucy!'

'Oh, come on Rox, I need this today-'

'That's not my problem!'

'Honestly, you two shouldn't be gambling anyway.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever _Molsie_. Cough it up Lucy!'

To finish off every lesson, as per tradition, Rox would wrestle one galleon out of Lucy due to a bet that she had stupidly agreed to in their first year - one galleon on if a Potter or Weasley was picked on in a lesson. So far, Rox was saving herself a small fortune. Lily would walk inbetween the two of them, Molly next to Lucy, as Hugo managed to melt into the background with his other friends.

'D.A.D.A lessons get so _boring_ now,' came a loud, slightly drawling voice from behind the three girls. Lily stopped, but didn't turn round, as she rolled her eyes in sync with Lucy and Roxanne, while Molly muttered irritably, 'oh for goodness sake'.

'No wonder Leon ditched her,' Amanda continued, with appreciative giggles from her friends, 'if he gets as bored of her as we do!' Rox made a sudden movement to grab her wand, but before the curse had reached her lips, Lily and Lucy had grabbed each of her elbows and marched Rox away from the raucous echo of laughter they left behind them.

'What did you stop me for?' Rox asked incredulously, wrenching her arms out of their grip once the laughter had died away, 'I really wanted to shut her fucking-'

'Yeah, we gathered,' Lucy cut across her while Lily couldn't help but smile, 'we didn't want you to do anything stupid this early in the morning.'

'What was stupid was letting that cow walk free till today after _it_ happened,' Rox retorted, placing her hand on her hip and using the other to flick back her hair. 'A good leg-locker curse would close her legs nice and-'

'What good would that do, though?' reasoned Lucy, shrugging. The four of them had returned to walking along the corridor, Lucy, Lily and Molly in their school robes while Rox strut in the middle of them in just her school shirt, the shortest of skirts and high heels. 'And besides - no offence babes, but you can't say shit,' Lucy added, gesturing at Rox's whole body, whom responded by smiling mischievously and running her hand through her hair. Boys wolf whistled on either side, yet Rox simply ignored them. 'At least I don't rip relationships apart!' huffed Rox with a slight indignance, 'honestly, Lu, I'm not that bad, am I?'

'Oh, don't be at all discreet on the matter Roxanne, I'm only standing right here after all,' smirked Lily. She was hoping to sound sarcastic, however they all seemed to notice a hint of waspishness in her tone, as Rox's eyes widened as she comprehended what Lily had just said. Molly held her book higher in front of her face and Lucy muttered,'save your big mouth for later, Rox.'

'Oh, Lils, you know I-'

'Yeah, yeah it's fine, Rox, don't worry about it. honestly,' said Lily quickly, waving her hand absentmindedly. Even if they were her best friends, Lily still hadn't properly talked about _it_, which had become the incident's unofficial code name, to any of them or her family. In fact, only Franky fully understood the gravity of the situation. Whenever it was brought up, which was uncomfortably often, Lily blew it over as quickly as possible before she lost her temper, which was constantly bubbling at the surface these days, and punched one of them. The other's seemed to recognise these symptoms as they didn't pursue the subject any further after Lily glared at one of them. Rox, who was by now feeling impatient, opened her mouth to argue before catching Lucy's eyes that flashed warningly and closed it again. They walked in awkward silence for a moment before Lucy asked, almost timidly, 'so, where's everyone else then?'

'Under the oak tree, I expect,' Molly practically squeaked as she resurfaced from behind her book.

'Right, let's go then,' said Lily stiffly, who wanted anything to distract the girls from glancing at her apprehensively or at each other with knowing looks. Now Lily really knew how her dad felt; Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione used to do it all the time.

Luckily, after a few minutes Molly picked up the conversation and they all started a heated discussion about revising for their O.W.L's. Lily had already started of course, and now it was making her sick because she really didn't need to and knew everything off by heart ten times over; revision had been her only means of distraction from _it._ It was a beautiful spring morning; the sun shone bright and blinding over the tree tops, while emitting a warm glow over the Hogwarts grounds as the five girls walked down to the large Oak tree beside the surface of the black lake. A low, morning mist circled around their ankles, though the grass wasn't wet, but simply a crisp cold. Lily loved the spring time, as it was a perfect balance between winter and summer. As Lily raised her hand to shield her eyes, she spotted five figures already sitting under the Oak tree. Rox had spotted them too, as she yelled,'and there are the boys!'

Sitting in amongst the large roots of the tree was Hugo, Louis, Lorcan, Lysander, and their friend Matty Goldstein. Hugo was strumming absent mindedly on his guitar while talking to Matty and Louis; Lysander was reading while trying to ignore Lorcan, who was sat in the branches and dropping stones onto his brother's head. As the girls approached, Lorcan looked up and a grin crept onto his lips. He leapt down from the tree, almost onto Lysander, walked up to Molly and embraced her in a passionate kiss, to which she responded by dropping her book and ploughing her hands through his hair. 'Oh, for fucks sake, can't you two get a room?' Lysander groaned along with the others, as Lucy walked up to him and pecked him on the cheek, and as he slid an arm around her lower waist. Lorcan pulled away from Molly and glared skeptically at his older twin. 'She's my girlfriend and I can do whatever I want to her!' Lorcan then cursed under his breath the next second as he came to realise what he had just said, the other's all laughing and wolf-whistling. 'Classy bro,' smirked Lysander, as he bent to kiss Lucy in a slightly more bearable manner.

Lily sat down on one of the thick branches next to Matty, who smiled at her warmly. The two had become quite good friends since they were paired up as potions partners in their first year, and he was now an official part of 'The Gang', which were the Potter- Weasley clan members in the fifth year, as there were so many of them. Only James, Alicia and Fred were in the seventh year; Rose, Al, Scorpius, Dominique, Sasha and Franky were in the sixth year, and Therese was in the fourth year. Lily used to have a huge crush on Matty last year, after they had snogged when they were drunk during the party celebrating Griffindor winning the Quidditch cup. They dated for a little while afterwards, till the two concluded that they were probably better off as friends. Not that it hadn't been a fun relationship; On the contrary, every snog with Matty had been exhilarating, and they had experimented with touching both over and under clothing. However, the two of them agreed that they, as a couple, lacked that certain something.

'Hey Lils' said Matty, as he wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her into a hug. 'Hey,' Lily replied as he released her, and everyone else was beginning to settle down around them, Lorcan returning to the tree tops with a nervous Molly in tow. For some reason, Lily felt herself blush as Matty's eyes bore into her's; his expression held a mixture of what looked like pity and concern. 'What?' she asked. Matty blinked, obviously unaware himself of his intensive stare, then returned to his casual smile. 'No, nothing,' he said. He hesitated, then finally he added in an undertone, 'I know you probably don't want to talk about it, I get it, but - I have to know, as we're friends - are you okay?'

Lily blinked in surprise, slightly taken aback as she felt a huge rush of affection for Matty. Though they did talk almost every day, they hadn't spoken about anything meaningful in a long time. She suddenly realised how much she appreciated having a good friend more outside the family walls, as the Longbottoms and Scamanders pretty much were family. Lily shrugged. 'Well, as okay as I can be I guess.' She hated that she was lying to him, given how caring and genuine he was being to her. 'After all, what does it matter if I have you around, eh?' Lily smiled as she elbowed him playfully. 'Yes, well, you have a point there,' said Matty, grinning. Then he added seriously, 'but I just wanted to check. I know you're stronger than most Lils, but you know, a break-up's a break-up and it's always a bit of a shock.' Lily suddenly felt slightly guilty and uncomfortable, wondering if Matty was in anyway referring to them. 'Thanks,' she said after a second. 'My family and friends have been asking the same questions twenty-four seven, but it just, you know-'

'Feels like they have to care on principal?' Matty finished, smiling at her gently. Lily grinned, shaking her head. 'Always know what to say, Matty.' He flashed a superior grin, waggling his eyebrows. The two of them laughed, before he added sincerely, 'well, you know, I'm always here if you need me Lils. You know that, right?' Lily felt a familiar burning sensation flicker inside her, as she stared into his deep brown eyes, and as his hand caressed hers. They were also sitting closer now, their thighs brushing, and she could practically taste his breath emitting from his lips that were so close to hers. . .

But the burning inside her warped; it suddenly felt cold, unhealthy, forbidden, as if she were committing an act of betrayal-

'You're coming too right, Matty?'

Lily and Matty's gaze tore apart, as Lily shifted uncomfortably and pulled her hand from under his, turning her head to Lorcan's voice in the branches of the Oak tree. 'Sorry, what? I was talking to Lily' said Matty, and Lily thought she sensed something like annoyance in his voice. She then glanced in the direction of Lucy, who was wearing a curious, almost knowing look on her face. Lily quickly turned back to Lorcan, as if Lucy would be able to snatch the truth out of her eyes.

"_The Climax_, you know the band competition? 'Nox' has finally agreed to play,' said Lorcan, grinning knowingly at Hugo. Lily then reached over and hit Lucy on her arm. 'Ow, bitch!' she moaned, 'what was that for?'

'How come you never told me!' Lily retorted, but smiling slightly. Lucy was Lily's best friend, thus they shared everything and hated finding out facts about the other from someone else. Lily also loved to hear Lucy sing, especially when she performed with Hugo and Louis in their band, 'Nox'.

'Well we were going to tell you all at the same time,' said Lucy, rubbing her arm and gesturing to Hugo and Louis.

'Oh come on, Lu, we always tell each other first and foremost!'

'Yeah, well, not always. .'

Lily stared at Lucy, her eyebrow arching. 'What do you mean by that?'

'Nothing,' said Lucy, in an almost huffy voice. She wasn't looking at Lily, and instead she was fiddling with a strand of grass. 'We just don't share _everything_ anymore, do we?'

Everyone was silent now; the awkward aura had returned. Lily could feel heat inside her again, but it was different this time; it was angry, rising and bubbling, set nearly to burst into flame. She shared everything with Lucy, everything. Lily never dreamed of hiding anything, ever, from her, unless it was absolutely necessary. In those circumstances, Lucy would normally shrug it off and think nothing of it, so what could she be referring to? Unless-

'Oh yeah?' Lily said, trying to appear unruffled, though this was betrayed by the slight quiver in her voice, 'what exactly did you have in mind?'

Everyone, including Lucy who was still forcing herself not to meet Lily's gaze as if she might get burnt, seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the explosion.

'Well, it's just since everything. . . with, you know. . . with Leo-'

But Lily refused to listen to another word. With the fire inside her screaming to punch her, or any of them for that matter, Lily stood up and swung her bag over her shoulder to leave. 'No, wait Lils I'm sorry! I didn't mean-'

'None of you mean anything do you!' Lily yelled at Lucy over her shoulder. 'All you guys want to know is what's the latest gossip; have you forgotten it's _me_ it's about you cow? I thought you of all people would understand.' Lucy opened her mouth to speak, but before any sound could be emitted from it, Lily drew her wand from her robes and threw a spell behind her with such force, that a large patch of ground exploded. Lucy and the other's immediately came to a halt, as Lily took advantage of this and pelted back into the castle. It was time for their next lesson anyway. _Great_, Lily thought irritably, _now I've got Lucy to deal with too._


End file.
